New York: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet in New York this evening. Mr Mukherjee has reached there.
While the agenda of the meeting is to discuss the Finance Minister's talks at the World Bank, it is their first meeting after the recent row over a note on 2G spectrum allocation that indicated a rift between the government's two top ministers, P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee.
This issue has had the Opposition gunning for Mr Chidambaram who was Finance Minister when telecom licences were issued.
The Prime Minister, however, has said that he has full confidence in all his ministers and that nothing much should be read into his meeting with Mr Mukherjee in New York.
"The business of the Opposition is to oppose or depose the government... nothing unusual they are doing," said the Prime Minister on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session which he addressed earlier on Saturday.
"There are a lot of things happening in the world - like global economic crisis. He was at the meeting of the fund (IMF) bank and he would like to brief me what happened there so there is nothing unusual in all this," Dr Singh added.
When asked whether he will back Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as he earlier backed the Home Minister, Dr Singh said, "Of course, my ministers enjoy my confidence in full."
The controversy surrounding Mr Chidambaram and Mr Mukherjee stems from a note by the Finance Ministry, written in March this year, questioning his actions when the telecom scam was playing out in 2008. It suggests that Mr Chidambaram, who was then Finance Minister, should have done more to ensure that spectrum was not given at throwaway rates to companies that were being favoured by A Raja, who was then Telecom Minister and is now in jail.
While the agenda of the meeting is to discuss the Finance Minister's talks at the World Bank, it is their first meeting after the recent row over a note on 2G spectrum allocation that indicated a rift between the government's two top ministers, P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee.
This issue has had the Opposition gunning for Mr Chidambaram who was Finance Minister when telecom licences were issued.
The Prime Minister, however, has said that he has full confidence in all his ministers and that nothing much should be read into his meeting with Mr Mukherjee in New York.
"The business of the Opposition is to oppose or depose the government... nothing unusual they are doing," said the Prime Minister on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session which he addressed earlier on Saturday.
"There are a lot of things happening in the world - like global economic crisis. He was at the meeting of the fund (IMF) bank and he would like to brief me what happened there so there is nothing unusual in all this," Dr Singh added.
When asked whether he will back Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as he earlier backed the Home Minister, Dr Singh said, "Of course, my ministers enjoy my confidence in full."
The controversy surrounding Mr Chidambaram and Mr Mukherjee stems from a note by the Finance Ministry, written in March this year, questioning his actions when the telecom scam was playing out in 2008. It suggests that Mr Chidambaram, who was then Finance Minister, should have done more to ensure that spectrum was not given at throwaway rates to companies that were being favoured by A Raja, who was then Telecom Minister and is now in jail.
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